Nereus—a soul of her own

Dec. 15, 2003
Drillship Nereus, designed by a team of engineering students from the University of Michigan's Department of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (NAME), is the winning entry in the 2003 International Student Offshore Design Competition (ISODC).

Drillship Nereus, designed by a team of engineering students from the University of Michigan's Department of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (NAME), is the winning entry in the 2003 International Student Offshore Design Competition (ISODC).

Team members received a $1,500 prize and trophy plaque, and had the opportunity to present their concept to the industry Oct. 17-20 during the World Maritime Technology Conference & Exposition in San Francisco.

The ISODC is a team-based design competition for undergraduate students in various engineering disciplines. According to Andrew Breuer, American Bureau of Shipping, "Its main purpose is to develop a heightened awareness in the academic world of the professional opportunities in the offshore industry and likewise to develop in the industry awareness of capable talent."

The three key missions of the competition, which is sponsored by the Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers (SNAME), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the Coastal, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), are to promote:

  • Student interest in the offshore industry, its technology, and the practice of various engineering disciplines for offshore applications.
  • Recognition by educators of the application of their particular engineering discipline to offshore endeavors.
  • An awareness in the offshore industry of the schools that address offshore applications and where future talent may be found.

Mentors are available for teams. ISODC facilitates two levels of participation: Level 1 (individual) and Level 2 (company mentorship). Level 1 mentors answer specific questions in their fields of expertise and Level 2 mentors provide general guidance and sponsorship.

The students were all college seniors at the time the project was submitted; five went on to masters of science programs. The team included Victor Thomas D'Souza, Lou Detrisac, Scott Opdyke, Katie Sultani, and Mike Rugnetta (now graduated and working in Newport News, Va.). Tom Lamb, research scientist and adjunct professor at NAME, served as advisor.

Project criteria

The Drillship Nereus is an ultradeepwater, dual-activity Panamax design.

Team leader Detrisac told OGJ, "Fitting through the Panama Canal was one of our owner's requirements. This requirement greatly influenced the overall dimensions of our vessel. It decreased our beam significantly along with our draft. Both of these changes greatly affected the stability and seakeeping of our vessel."

Concept design for the ultradeepwater drillship Nereus. Image by Lou Detrisac for the University of Michigan College of Engineering, Department of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering.
Click here to enlarge image

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Contest criteria

Competitors went through two rounds of judging. The first round identified the top five designs (others were submitted by teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, and the University of New Orleans).

First-round criteria included:

  • Utility, relevance, and general interest of the system designed to the offshore industry.
  • Demonstrated grasp of the key design issues.
  • System integration.
  • Demonstrated teamwork.
  • Quality of work in the technical summaries.
  • Creativity of design.

In the second round, the final winner was selected based on the following criteria:

  • Technical content and execution, 60%.
  • Documentation and presentation, 20%.
  • Demonstrated teamwork, 10%.
  • Creativity, 10%.

The second- and third-place winners (different teams from Texas A&M) were also recognized with prizes of $750 and $500, respectively. The second-place project was "Design of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading and Oil Offtake System for Offshore West Africa." The third-place project was "Design of FPSO Vessel for the Gulf of Mexico."

Three ships have sailed under the name USS Nereus. The first (1864-1887) was a 1,244-ton screw steamship; the second (lost in December 1941) was a coal collier; the third (1945-1971) was an AC-10 submarine tender.

Lt. Comdr. Wintersteen, chaplain of the subtender Nereus, told crewmen of that ship, "A ship is not just a steel hull. The spirits, personalities, effortful lives, and suffering deaths ofUher crew are all part of a ship. Out of them she develops a soul of her own."

Planning is under way for a third competition, ISODC2004. Registration closes Feb. 27, 2004, and the design entry package needs to be submitted by May 28, 2004. Additional information about the competition is at www.isodc.com.